Sorting folders first in Mavericks Finder?

[legalbits]

Make folders appear first in Finder

To make the folders come first in finder, change the order of data categories in spotlight.

Hit Command plus spacebar and then type spotl. That opens spotlight preferences. You will see all the data categories you have checked, or are checked by default. Simply drag "folders" to the top of the list. You can also arrange all the data categories in the order you want. So when you are looking in Finder and opt to arrange by "kind" the folder show up first together with any other changes in the order that you made.

Thanks to David Pogue's OSX Yosemite, the missing manual, Page 132.

 

[RumorzGuy]

Hello legalbits. Thanks for the tip. However, the problem I have been having is that if I use a window's view preferences to arrange by name, and sort by kind, what happens is that while I can get folders to list at the top of the list, with everything else following underneath them, the folders lose the little disclosure triangle which allows me to list their contents underneath. Thus, I am being forced to double-click a folder in order to see their contents. This is not the folder behavior that I am striving for.

If I jiggle around with the display settings enough, I can sometimes get the triangle to appear, but then the list of items in the window is no longer in the order that I desire.

I don't know why it is so difficult for Apple to make it possible to list folders at the top, WITH their disclosure triangles intact.

Or maybe it is just me. Who knows.

 

[grahamperrin]

Where a folder is a file (a directory file) …

The file system

Some parts of some Apple applications rely on the sorting capabilities of the file system.

One such application was, probably still is, Console. The attached screenshot, from Mountain Lion, exemplifies the disorder that may appear when a file system other than HFS Plus is used to store .aslquery files at
~/Library/Application Support/Console/ASLQueries

Finder

It's reasonable to assume that wherever possible, Finder in Mavericks makes reasonable use of the sorting capabilities of the file system.

If the file system provides an orderly listing, then asking any app to reorder that information must take at least a little time.

To people who prefer folders first in Finder: I can't immediately offer a workaround or solution.

Background and references

First, please understand that with Mavericks and HFS Plus, what Finder presents as a 'folder' is typically a file; a special type of a file. A directory file – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_file_types#Directory

Second, consider just one phrase from legacy Technical Note TN1150: HFS Plus Volume Format:

"… File names are compared and sorted using a routine that assumes a Roman script …"​

More deeply technical

How are directories implemented in Unix filesystems?

Beyond Mavericks (off-topic)

If/when Apple begins to use something other than HFS Plus – by default – with OS X, then Finder (or its successor) may offer what's required. If you wish to discuss this further please aim for the OS X sub-forum.